家族成员的权力集中度与企业绩效———对家族上市公司的研究

如何在家族成员内部建立有效的治理机制是家族企业研究的关键问题之一.基于各个家族成员的偏好存在差异且追求其自身效用最大化这一假设, 分析家族成员内部的权力集中度对企业绩效的影响程度以及这种影响的受制条件.实证结果表明:相对于线性关系, 倒 U型假设更有助于解释我国家族上市公司的家族成员内部权力集中度与经营绩效之间的关系;企业的经营多样性和经营规模对家族成员权力集中度的功效起到显著的调节作用     

家族成员的权力集中度与企业绩效——对家族上市公司的研究

如何在家族成员内部建立有效的治理机制是家族企业研究的关键问题之一.基于各个家族成员的偏好存在差异且追求其自身效用最大化这一假设,分析家族成员内部的权力集中度对企业绩效的影响程度以及这种影响的受制条件.实证结果表明:相对于线性关系,倒U型假设更有助于解释我国家族上市公司的家族成员内部权力集中度与经营绩效之间的关系;企业的...     

CEO and Chairperson characteristics and firm performance

This paper focuses on the relationship between Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairperson characteristics and firm performance. Specifically, the study examines the association between the characteristics of the CEO and the Chairperson of the board and firm performance. Using a sample of S&P 500 firms, the evidence found suggests that demographic and experience-related characteristics may be associated with the market valuation and financial performance of the firm. In particular, the reported results indicate a positive relationship between the presence of female CEOs or Chairs and firm performance, thus suggesting that gender-based differences may affect the CEO’s/Chairperson’s success. Moreover, the findings concerning the age of the CEO or Chair are mixed, while their experience and quality appear positively related to firm performance. Interestingly, a CEO or Chairperson holding multiple board seats is negatively associated with firm performance, whereas CEO duality has a positive relationship with Tobin’s Q and the return on assets (ROA) of the firm.     

Ownership structure and board composition in a high ownership concentration context

Few articles have addressed the relation between the ownership structure and the composition of the boards. The results of the analysis performed on a sample of Spanish listed companies for the period 2004–2011, show that in markets where corporate ownership is highly concentrated, it is necessary to devote special attention to blockholders and to differentiate the figure of the independent directors from the group of outsiders. The results confirm a negative and decreasing relation between blockholders and the percentage of independents while insiders’ ownership is only significant if one looks at the percentage of outsiders as a whole, in which case it shows a U-shaped quadratic relation.     

Corporate social responsibility,board of directors,and firm performance: an analysis of their relationships

This paper aims to contribute to the empirical evidence relating corporate social responsibility (CSR), board composition, and firm performance. Using a sample of Spanish listed firms included in the IBEX 35 over the period 2005–2010 the results show that the percentage of independent directors affect firm CSR activities, and that this effect is moderated by the resources available to the firm (measured by return on assets). Also, the CSR has a mediating role on the relation between the independence of the board of directors and firm value. These results hold for other board characteristics (board size and women as directors).     

股权集中、大股东掏空与管理层自利行为

从我国高度集中的股权结构出发,建立理论模型分别研究在单一代理关系下,影响大股东掏空行为的主要因素,以及在双重代理关系下,大股东与管理层之间的掏空-自利博弈行为及其主要影响因素.证明了:1)在单一代理关系下,影响大股东掏空行为的因素为公司成长性、中小投资者保护水平以及大股东持股比例.公司成长性越高、中小投资者保护水平越高...     

网络能力、资源获取与新企业绩效关系实证研究

网络能力是在网络导向驱动下,利用关系技巧和合作技巧进行一系列网络构建和网络管理活动,以实现资源获取目标的能力.在中国转型经济时期,网络能力对于新企业克服资源约束,实现生存和成长具有重要作用.拓展了网络能力的理论内涵,将网络能力划分为网络导向、网络构建和网络管理三个维度,建立了网络能力、资源获取与新创企业绩效关系模型,以322家新企业为样本进行实证分析.研究结果表明,网络导向对网络构建和网络管理具有显著正影响,网络构建和网络管理对知识资源获取和运营资源获取具有正影响,知识资源与新企业绩效显著正相关,知识资源获取对运营资源获取具有正影响.研究结论还表明运营资源对新企业绩效无显著影响,但知识资源可以加强两者之间关系,说明新企业只有具备很强的资源管理能力才能将运营资源转化为企业绩效.     

CEO proactiveness,innovation, and firm performance

Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) are essential in driving firm innovation. However, despite existing research on CEO personality characteristics and firm innovation and performance, we know relatively little about how personality characteristics reflecting anticipatory action and strong outcome-oriented components, such as proactiveness, shape firm innovation and performance. We explore the relationship between CEO proactiveness and three facets of organizational innovation, as well as its impact on firm performance. We suggest that CEO proactiveness is manifested in different network-building, problem-solving, and feedback-seeking behaviors with different implications for exploratory innovation, exploitative innovation, and organizational ambidexterity, and that its effect on firm performance is partially mediated by organizational ambidexterity. By examining the influence of this important CEO personality characteristic on key firm strategic choices and performance, we extend research on strategic leadership and firm innovation and performance.     

The relation between board size and firm performance in firms with a history of poor operating performance

Focusing on a sample of smaller firms with a history of poor operating performance, this paper posits that increases in board size will be associated with better share price performance. Notably, board sizes studied here are, on average, much smaller than those typically studied by prior research. Mostly consistent with predictions, board size is found to be positively correlated with firm value in between-firms tests, and changes in board size are found to be positively associated with annual stock returns. Last, event study results suggest that the market responds favorably to board size increases and unfavorably to large board size decreases. Together, these results identify a setting in which larger board sizes appear to be positively related to shareholder value.     

Ownership concentration,contestability, family firms,and capital structure

This study analyses the distribution of power among the several blockholders of a firm and the identity of those blockholders as a determinant of firm leverage. Using a sample of 694 firms from 12 Western European countries, our results support a negative relationship between ownership concentration in the hands of the main blockholder and firm leverage. Moreover, we detect that the presence of a second and third large shareholder (beyond the first blockholder) has a significant positive effect on the leverage ratio. In addition, the results show that contestability in family firms plays a more relevant role. Finally, we show that family firms do have significant impact on firm leverage level, and this impact varies depending on the legal framework and institutional environment. In our main sample the results show family firms negatively affect market leverage, supporting the theory that family firms are more averse to an increase in the debt level due to the risk of bankruptcy and financial distress as a result of having an under-diversified portfolio. In contrast, the opposite effect is found in the sample that excludes the United Kingdom. This last result cannot be explained by agency theory, given that family businesses are those that suffer less from Type I agency problems. This result suggests either some difficulty in financing their investments by issuing new equity or the need to use debt as a signal of the quality of its investments. Our results prove to be stable against a battery of robustness tests.     

Dual-class shares,external financing needs,and firm performance

Whereas the agency theory predicts that dual-class shares decrease firm performance, the stewardship theory predicts that dual-class shares increase firm performance. The cumulative findings on the performance consequences of dual-class shares have been weak and/or inconclusive. Because endogeneity is a constant challenge in empirical corporate governance studies, this study uses a unique law change in Switzerland as a source of exogenous variation in the fraction of firms with dual-class shares. Controlling for firm fixed effects and time-varying confounders, we find that dual-class shares neither harm nor benefit firm performance on average. However, dual-class shares increase firm performance if the firm requires external finance and dual-class shares decrease firm performance if the firm does not require external finance. External financing needs mitigate the agency costs between controlling and minority shareholders and create a context in which dual-class shares facilitate firm-specific investments instead of private perquisites. The study’s results have both managerial and policy implications.     

Interlocking directorships and firm performance in highly regulated sectors: the moderating impact of board diversity

Interlocking directorships are a pervasive element of the corporate landscape. Academic literature documents many examples of spreading business practices and strategic outcomes through this form of inter-organizational connectedness. Yet, the findings on the long debated relationship between interlocking ties and firm performance remain mixed. In this study, we provide an analysis of this relationship on the basis of a sample of UK-listed financial and utility companies across a 10 year period. Our findings provide support to the busyness hypothesis of interlocking and indicate that when used in excess, interlocking is likely to compromise the attention of directors on the focal company board. Moreover, in reconciliation of the competing views of the resource-dependence and agency theory, we propose a contingency-based model of interlocking with board diversity as a moderator of the baseline interlocking-firm performance relationship. Our results render support to the assertion that the potential for dissemination of ideas and innovations resides in the interlocking ties. However, boards need to be receptive to that knowledge exchange for this transfer to take place and this process may be facilitated by the level of and changes in board diversity. This study contributes to research into the consequences and implications of interlocking directorships and demonstrates that the search for the moderating and mediating variables represents a step in the right direction.     

Dynamic capabilities and firm performance

This paper juxtaposes conflicting claims about the relationship between codified dynamic capabilities and firm performance at different levels of environmental dynamism. Furthermore, it argues that the contradictory propositions and findings in prior research are due to said relationship being contingent on key, yet thus far overlooked and unaccounted for, factors internal to the firm such as dynamism exposure and asset base complexity. Empirical tests in the context of the mutual funds industry provide evidence that the performance contribution of codified dynamic capabilities does decline as environmental dynamism increases, yet for any given level of environmental dynamism the magnitude and even the sign of the performance contribution of codified dynamic capabilities are significantly influenced by firms’ dynamism exposure and asset base complexity. Going beyond received wisdom, this study advances a more nuanced contingency approach to dynamic capabilities which contributes to a better understanding of how the value of dynamic capabilities is shaped by a complex interplay of environmental and internal factors.     

European industrial districts: Influence of geographic concentration on performance of the firm

This paper reviews ideas and insights from recent firm strategy literature. We argue that these perspectives can be usefully extended to explain the competitive advantage of the industrial district. Most of the empirical studies seeking evidence of the competitive advantage of the industrial district consisted of case studies. This paper attempts to offer a measurement of the performance of industrial district firms on a comparative basis by using the case of the Spanish ceramic tile industry.     

Women on boards and firm performance

This study investigates the financial performance of Dutch companies both with and without women on their boards. The analysis extends earlier methods used in research by Catalyst (The bottom line: corporate performance and women’s representation on boards, 2007) and McKinsey (Women matter. Gender diversity, a corporate performance driver. McKinsey & Company, USA, 2007), two studies that are often cited in the literature, although, each has a number of methodological shortcomings. This article adds to the international debate, which is often normative, through examining 99 listed companies in the Dutch Female Board Index. Our results show that firms with women directors perform better than those without women on their boards.     

Effect of the board of directors and the audit committee on firm performance: a panel data analysis

This research examines the relationship between independent directors, the audit committee (AC), and firm performance, taking into account the impact of the chief executive officer’s powers and block shareholders. We use the maximum likelihood estimator, based on agency theory assumptions and cylindered panel data, to examine three models of firm performance. The results show that the independence of the board is reflected clearly by increased economic and equity performance of the firm. However, an AC that is fully independent or meets frequently is associated with lower firm performance. Unlike pension funds, institutional shareholders can be considered an effective control mechanism in the context of France. Our results development includes advanced explanations for market liquidity and shareholders’ portfolios. The study period ends before the European regulation on ACs came into effect in 2008. This allows for an appreciation of soft law in French corporate governance. It also lets us compare the data with the way firms operate their boards one decade later. The evidence provides useful guidelines on the supremacy of soft law in corporate governance and suggests that the composition and functioning of the board of directors should be moderated based on the firms’ context. The specificity of the cylindered panel data helps to better examine the impact of the board and AC’s independence and functioning in French corporate governance structure.     

Ownership concentration and market value of European banks

This paper investigates the relationship between ownership concentration and market value of European banks, and the role of the institutional environment in shaping this relationship. Using GMM dynamic estimator on a sample of European banks over a 13-year period (1993–2005) we find on average a negative effect of ownership concentration on bank value, measured by Tobin's Q. However, this effect varies across different institutional settings; while higher ownership concentration results in a lower bank value particularly in the countries belonging to German legal family, the impact of ownership concentration is positive in Scandinavia. We propose that, besides the legal protection of small investors, the differences in the impact of ownership concentration across the countries could be due to the identity of the predominant owners, i.e. financial institutions in Germany and trusts and foundations in Scandinavia. This in turn implies that restrictions of shareholdings in banks could alleviate governance problems in some countries, but lower bank valuation in others.     

Technological alliance portfolio configuration and firm performance

Firms pursuing technological alliances to gain competitive advantages have become a ubiquitous phenomenon in today’s business environment. This article examines which technological alliance portfolio configuration is better for focal firm performance using a portfolio rather than a dyadic perspective. To assess technological alliance portfolio effects on Korean pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, we adopted three explanatory variables—number of alliances, number of partners, and spanning structural holes. The growth rate of revenue and the growth rate of profit are used as dependent variables. We identify two characteristics of technological alliance portfolios from the two-step generalized method of moments estimates. First, we find that between two firms with the same number of alliances, the firm with the larger number of partners would have a better performance. This result is unlike those in previous studies because it distinguishes between the number of alliances and number of partners based on the network theory. Second, we find that spanning structural holes affects firm performance rather like a double-edge sword—it positively affects the growth rate of profit but negatively affects the growth rate of revenue of firms. In short, spanning structural holes is simultaneously beneficial for firm profitability and unfavorable for firm growth. This result differs from those of earlier studies because it shows that a firm spanning structural holes among alliance partners produces either a positive or a negative effect, suggesting that a firm should vary its strategy depending on whether it prioritizes profitability or growth.     

Female board appointments and firm valuation: short and long-term effects

The presence of women on boards of directors has become a high profile issue in recent years. Several studies, based largely on data from countries with Anglo-Saxon corporate governance systems, have investigated the influence of female board appointments on firm performance. This study focuses on the impact of female directors in Spain, where debate about this topic has been intense for two reasons: the recommendation in 2006 by Spain’s Unified Good Governance Code of positive discrimination in favour of female board appointments and the passing in 2007 of a Gender Equality Act by the Spanish parliament. Our paper analyses the short and long term effect of the appointment of female directors prior to these events. We use an event study to analyze the short term stock market reaction to the appointment of female directors and a multiple regression approach, using the system GMM estimation procedure, to assess the long term influence on firm value of female boardroom appointments. We find that the stock market reacts positively in the short term to the announcement of female board appointments, suggesting that investors on average believe that female directors add value. This belief appears to be confirmed by our regression results which show that female board appointments are positively associated with firm value over a sustained period. These results suggest that the legislative changes in Spain make economic sense as well as advancing the cause of women in Spanish boardrooms.